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By Saqib Iqbal Ahmed
NEW YORK, Feb 16 (Reuters) - Speculators' net short bets on
the U.S. dollar in the latest week shrank to a six-week low,
according to calculations by Reuters and Commodity Futures
Trading Commission data released on Friday.
The value of the net short dollar positions - derived from
net positions of International Monetary Market speculators in
the yen, euro, British pound, Swiss franc and Canadian and
Australian dollars - totaled $8.19 billion, in the week to Feb.
13.
That compares with a net short position of $12.93 billion
the previous week.
To be short a currency means traders believe it will fall in
value.
In a wider measure of dollar positioning that
includes net contracts on the New Zealand dollar, Mexican peso,
Brazilian real and Russian ruble, the U.S. dollar posted a net
short position valued at $12.03 billion, compared with $17.0
billion a week earlier.
"Whenever you have instances of higher risk aversion you
might see flows coming back into the dollar," said Sireen
Harajli, a currency strategist at Mizuho in New York.
Higher-risk assets took a beating last week as investors
grappled with increased volatility across markets. The dollar
index, which measures the greenback against a basket of
six major currencies, rose 1.4 percent last week to notch its
best weekly performance since November 2016.
The index gave up all those gains this week and hit a fresh
three-year low on Friday.
"Our view is that the dollar is going to be trading on the
defensive this year," Harajli said.
Worries about the U.S. budget deficit are expected to weigh
on the greenback, Harajli said.
Meanwhile, speculators' net short position on bitcoin Cboe
futures fell to 1,875 contracts, down from a net short position
of 2,040 contracts in the prior week, the data showed.
Bitcoin rose above $10,000 on Thursday for the first time in
more than two weeks, as investors bought back the digital
currency after it had fallen 70 percent from its all-time peak
hit in mid-December.
Japanese Yen (Contracts of 12,500,000 yen)
$13.391 billion
Feb. 13, 2018 Prior week
week
Long 42,299 39,108
Short 157,808 151,984
Net -115,509 -112,876
EURO (Contracts of 125,000 euros)
$-19.65 billion
Feb. 13, 2018 Prior week
week
Long 230,785 251,369
Short 103,496 110,546
Net 127,289 140,823
POUND STERLING (Contracts of 62,500 pounds sterling)
$-1.297 billion
Feb. 13, 2018 Prior week
week
Long 64,164 81,698
Short 49,224 53,831
Net 14,940 27,867
SWISS FRANC (Contracts of 125,000 Swiss francs)
$2.665 billion
Feb. 13, 2018 Prior week
week
Long 17,763 16,898
Short 37,688 37,139
Net -19,925 -20,241
CANADIAN DOLLAR (Contracts of 100,000 Canadian dollars)
$-2.584 billion
Feb. 13, 2018 Prior week
week
Long 62,535 69,492
Short 30,006 29,328
Net 32,529 40,164
AUSTRALIAN DOLLAR (Contracts of 100,000 Aussie dollars)
$-0.714 billion
Feb. 13, 2018 Prior week
week
Long 49,208 68,273
Short 40,127 54,525
Net 9,081 13,748
MEXICAN PESO (Contracts of 500,000 pesos)
$-2.594 billion
Feb. 13, 2018 Prior week
week
Long 122,762 127,650
Short 25,984 34,795
Net 96,778 92,855
NEW ZEALAND DOLLAR (Contracts of 100,000 New Zealand dollars)
$-0.161 billion
Feb. 13, 2018 Prior week
week
Long 28,648 29,316
Short 26,428 25,984
Net 2,220 3,332
(Reporting by Saqib Iqbal Ahmed, editing by G Crosse)